He was honored with the 2019 Eclipse Award as Outstanding Jockey. Ortiz had an even better year in 2019, winning four Breeders’ Cup races including the Classic aboard Vino Rosso, piloting Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar to an undefeated season, and setting a new earnings record with over $34 million. In 2018, Ortiz also rode Grade 1 winners Diversify, Fourstar Crook, Robert Bruce, and A Raving Beauty.
Ortiz guided Shamrock Rose to a victory from off the pace in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint to kick off the World Championships card on Saturday, Nov. He did not wait long to add to his resume. He added a fourth Breeders' Cup win in 2018 when he scored a front-running victory aboard Newspaperofrecord in the Juvenile Fillies Turf on “Future Stars Friday” on Nov. Ortiz picked up his third win in the Breeders' Cup when he guided Bar of Gold to a 66-1 upset in the 2017 Filly and Mare Sprint. Irad Ortiz Jr. won his first Breeders’ Cup race in 2014 aboard Lady Eli. Ortiz has ridden many other popular horses throughout his young career, including 2012 champion 3-year-old filly Questing, Kid Cruz, Vyjack and Birdatthewire. Ortiz earned a second mount in the Belmont Stakes in 2016, and he won his first American classic race when capturing the Belmont aboard Creator in a well-timed ride. The same year he won the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf with Stephanie's Kitten. In 2015 he piloted Lady Eli to victory in each of her first three races including the Grade 1, $1-million Belmont Oaks Invitational. His highlights were two Grade 1 victories on Sweet Reason and the season was topped off with a win in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Lady Eli, his first Breeders' Cup victory. In 2014, Ortiz had a career-best year when winning 15 graded stakes races. Ortiz has found great success since moving to the states to ride, and in 2013 had a mount in the Belmont Stakes aboard Incognito, a Kiaran McLaughlin trainee taking a large set up in class for the Triple Crown race. His grandfather, also named Irad Ortiz, was a jockey, and so are his uncle, Ivan Ortiz, and brother, Jose Ortiz.
Originally from Trujillo Alto in Puerto Rico, Ortiz is a graduate of that country’s Escuela Vocacional Hípica, a school for prospective jockeys.
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